FEEDING APPARATUS FOR FEEDING SEGMENTS OF TOBACCO INDUSTRY MATERIAL, FEEDING MODULE FOR FEEDING SEGMENTS OF TOBACCO INDUSTRY MATERIAL AND METHOD OF FEEDING TOBACCO INDUSTRY ROD-LIKE ARTICLES

Abstract

 A feeding apparatus (30, 40) for feeding segments (A) of tobacco industry material, comprising a hopper (21, 41) for storing rods (MA) of tobacco industry material, a receiving drum (22) adapted to receive the rods (MA) from the hopper (21, 41), a conveying drum (23) for conveying the rods (MA) while cutting the rods (MA) into segments (A), a cutting head (24) for cutting the rods (MA) conveyed on the conveying drum (23). The apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that the feeding apparatus comprises a filling sensor (31) for checking the presence of the rod (MA) in a flute (28) of the receiving drum (22), the receiving drum (22) being adapted to make a rotational movement at an increased speed (ω1) so that when an unfilled flute (28) is detected on the receiving drum (22) it moves with the increased speed (ω1) so that at the point of transfer (X) of the rod (MA) into the flute (29) of the conveying drum (23) there is another filled flute (28) of the receiving drum (22) and another empty flute (29) of the conveying drum (23).

Description

[0001] The object of this application is a feeding apparatus for feeding segments of tobacco industry material, a feeding module for feeding segments of tobacco industry material and a method of feeding tobacco industry rod-like articles.

[0002] At present, the tobacco industry manufactures many types of rod-like articles comprising a plurality of elements, namely tobacco elements containing tobacco or material containing processed tobacco, filter elements, elements containing aromatic substances, distance elements used for example to cool tobacco smoke. In this application, these various elements will be referred to as segments and articles containing such segments as multi-segment articles. A machine for manufacturing multi-segment articles disclosed in the publication EP1013181A2 is known in the state of the art, whereas the feeding module of this machine comprises a feeding apparatus for supplying the segments provided with a cutting head for cutting the rods into individual segments during the movement of the rods on a conveying drum, the feeding apparatus supplying a group of individual segments.

[0003] The document GB2267021 also discloses a machine for manufacturing multi-segment articles wherein the feeding module comprises a feeding apparatus for supplying a group of individual segments. The expected apparatus among manufacturers is such which provides the highest possible output, in the case of the feeding apparatus the highest possible, preferably 100 per cent, filling of the flutes of the receiving drum is expected.

[0004] An apparatus that fills an empty flute on a drum is known in the state of the art. The document WO2019105813A1 discloses an apparatus which receives a rod from a store and places it in an unfilled flute. No feeding apparatuses which would enable the apparatus to maintain a high output without supplying additional rods when the flute is unfilled.

[0005] The object of the invention is a feeding apparatus for feeding segments of tobacco industry material, comprising a hopper for storing rods of tobacco industry material, a receiving drum adapted to receive the rods from the hopper, a conveying drum for conveying the rods while cutting the rods into segments, a cutting head for cutting the rods conveyed on the conveying drum. The apparatus according to the invention is characterised in that the feeding apparatus comprises a filling sensor for checking the presence of the rod in a flute of the receiving drum, the receiving drum being adapted to make a rotational movement at an increased speed so that when an unfilled flute is detected on the receiving drum it moves at the increased speed so that at the point of transfer of the rod into the flute of the conveying drum there is another filled flute of the receiving drum and another empty flute of the conveying drum.

[0006] The apparatus according to the invention is characterised in that a synchronisation takes place at the point of transfer of the rod MA into the flute of the conveying drum or when approaching this point.

[0007] The apparatus according to the invention is characterised in that the feeding apparatus is provided with a quality control sensor for the rod.

[0008] The apparatus according to the invention is characterised in that the feeding apparatus is provided with a rod rejector adapted to reject the rods.

[0009] The apparatus according to the invention is characterised by comprising a pulling out unit for pulling out the rods from the flute of the conveying drum.

[0010] Furthermore, the object of the invention is a feeding module for feeding the segments made of tobacco industry material, comprising a hopper for storing the rods of tobacco industry material, a receiving drum adapted to receive the rods from the hopper, a conveying drum for conveying the rods while cutting the rods into individual segments, a cutting head for cutting the rods conveyed on the conveying drum, a shifting drum for varying mutual position of the segments, an aligning drum for forming at least one stream of the segments. The module according to the invention is characterised in that the feeding module comprises a filling sensor for checking the presence of the rod in a flute of the receiving drum, the receiving drum being adapted to make a rotational movement at the increased speed so that when an unfilled flute is detected on the receiving drum it moves at the increased speed so that at the point of transfer of the rod into the flute of the conveying drum there is another filled flute of the receiving drum and another empty flute of the conveying drum.

[0011] The feeding module according to the invention is characterised in that a synchronisation takes place at the point of transfer of the rod into the flute of the conveying drum or when approaching this point.

[0012] The feeding module according to the invention is characterised in that the feeding module is provided with a quality control sensor for the rod.

[0013] The feeding module according to the invention is characterised in that the feeding module is provided with the rod rejector adapted to reject the rods.

[0014] The feeding module according to the invention is characterised by comprising the pulling out unit for pulling out the rod from the flute of the conveying drum.

[0015] Furthermore, the object of the invention is a method of feeding tobacco industry rod-like articles in the form of rods between a drum and another drum, comprising the step of identifying an empty flute on the drum. The method according to the invention is characterised in that, once the empty flute on the receiving drum has been identified, the speed of the receiving drum is increased relative to the speed of the conveying drum so that at the point of transfer of the rod into the flute of the conveying drum there is another filled flute of the receiving drum and another empty flute of the conveying drum.

[0016] The method according to the invention is characterised in that the step of identifying the empty flute is carried out by means of the filling sensor for checking the presence of the rod in the flute.

[0017] The method according to the invention is characterised in that the step of identifying the empty flute is carried out on the basis of a defective rod rejection signal from the quality control sensor for the rod.

[0018] An advantage of the invention is that, during the manufacturing process, it enables the quality of individual rods to be checked and defective rods to be rejected without reducing the productivity of the manufacturing apparatus.

[0019] The object of the invention is described in more detail based on embodiments shown in a drawing in which:

Fig. 1

shows a feeding module,

Fig. 1a

shows the process of forming a stream of segments,

Fig. 1b

shows the process of forming two streams of segments,

Fig. 2

shows a rod and a group of segments formed after cutting the rod,

Fig. 3

shows a feeding apparatus for feeding the segments in the first embodiment,

Fig. 4

shows the phases of momentary acceleration of a receiving drum,

Fig. 5

shows the feeding apparatus for feeding the segments in the second embodiment, and

Fig. 6

shows a pulling out unit in a top view of the apparatus of Fig. 5.

[0020] The feeding module 20 shown in Fig. 1 comprises a hopper 21, a receiving drum 22 provided with circumferentially arranged flutes into which rods MA from the hopper 21 are received. The receiving drum 22 transfers the rods MA to a conveying drum 23, whereas at the conveying drum 23 there is arranged a cutting head 24 which is provided with one or several circular knives 24A for cutting the rods MA. The conveying drum 23 conveys the rods MA while cutting the rods MA into individual segments A (Fig. 2). The hopper 21, the receiving drum 22 and the conveying drum 23 together with the cutting head 24 constitute a feeding apparatus 30 for feeding groups G of segments A. In addition, the feeding module 20 comprises a shifting drum 25 for varying mutual position of the segments A and an aligning drum 26 for forming at least one stream of the segments A. The feeding module 20 supplies the segments A in the form of at least one stream of the segments A. An example of a stream of the segments A formed by cutting the rods MA is shown in Fig. 1a, the drums are not shown, just the rods MA and the segments A situated successively on the receiving drum 22, the conveying drum 23, the shifting drum 25 and the aligning drum 26 are presented. The shifting drum 25 varies the arrangement of the segments A relative to one another, the shifting drum 25 can also be called a cascading drum. On the drum 26, the segments A are positioned so that they move along a single path of movement, in the view of the lateral surface of the drum along a single line. Fig. 1b shows the forming of two streams of the segments A resulting from the cutting of the rods MA. The stream of the segments A can be transferred further to a receiving apparatus by means of a transferring drum 27. The feeding module 20 can be used to feed the stream of the segments A in an assembling apparatus of a machine for manufacturing multi-segment articles.

[0021] The rods MA stored in the hopper 21 fill the flutes 28 arranged circumferentially on the receiving drum 22 as this drum is rotated. The rod MA is held in the flute 28 by a vacuum provided through holes in the bottom of the flute 28. The receiving drum 22 transfers the rods MA at the point of transfer X to the flutes 29 of the conveying drum 23 (Fig. 3) where the rods MA are also held by the vacuum. During the movement on the conveying drum 23, the rod MA is cut into individual segments A, whereas the segments A produced from one rod MA form a group G (Fig. 2). The successively fed groups G of segments A can be transferred to the next drum and shifted during the movement to form a stream of individual segments A in which the segments A move so that their axes are situated perpendicular to the direction of movement. The successively fed groups of segments A may be received in a direction substantially corresponding to the axis of rotation of the conveying drum 23 so as to form a stream of individual segments A in which the segments A move so that their axes are situated in line with the direction of movement.

[0022] As shown in Fig. 3, the feeding apparatus 30, constituting a fragment of the feeding module 20, comprises a filling sensor 31 for checking the presence of the rod MA in the flute 28 of the receiving drum 22. Furthermore, the feeding apparatus 30 comprises a quality control sensor 32 for checking the quality of the conveyed rods MA.

[0023] The feeding apparatus 30 comprises a rod rejector 33 for rejecting defective rods MA. The rejector 33 comprises a pressure vessel 34 and a valve 35 on a feed channel 36 through which compressed air is supplied. The rejection of the rod MA takes place by momentarily supplying compressed air to the rejection channel 37. The rejection force acting on the rod MA is greater than the force holding the rod MA in the flute 28. In Fig. 3, the rejected defective rod is designated MA'.

[0024] The receiving drum 22 is adapted to operate at a variable and adjustable rotational speed, preferably with position control, for example by coupling the receiving drum 22 to a digitally controlled servo drive which is provided with a position encoder. The rotational speed w1 of the receiving drum 22 is synchronised with the rotational speed w2 of the conveying drum 23, the synchronisation of the receiving drum 22 and the conveying drum 23 being maintained when all flutes 28 of the receiving drum 22 are filled. During the operation of the feeding apparatus 30, individual flutes 28 may be unfilled. The occurrence of an unfilled flute 28' may be due to a momentary ineffective receiving of the rod MA from the hopper 21. An unfilled flute 28' will also occur when a defective rod MA' is detected by the quality control sensor 92 and the rejector 93 is activated. When a low-quality rod MA' is detected by the sensor 92, the rejector 93 rejects such a defective rod. In Fig. 3a, the flute 28' is denoted as the flute from which the defective rod MA' was rejected after activation of the rejector 93. Hereinafter, the flute 28' will denote both a flute from which a defective rod was rejected and a flute that was not filled by the rod MA from the hopper 21.

[0025] The feeding apparatus 30 is adapted to transfer the rod MA at the point of transfer X from the flute 28 of the receiving drum 22 to the flute 29 of the conveying drum 23, the receiving drum 22 rotating at a speed w1 and the conveying drum 23 rotating at a speed w2 adjusted to the speed ω1 so that the linear speeds of the receiving drum 22 and the conveying drum 23 are equal. The feeding apparatus 30 is adapted to momentarily accelerate the receiving drum 22 before the unfilled flute 28' of the receiving drum 22 reaches the point of transfer X. Namely, the receiving drum 22 is adapted to make a rotational movement with an increased speed w1' so that when an unfilled flute 28' of the receiving drum 22 is detected, the receiving drum 22 moves with an increased speed w1' so that at the point of transfer X of the rod MA to the flute 29 of the conveying drum 23, there is another filled flute 28" of the receiving drum 22 and another empty flute 29' of the conveying drum 23. An effect of the acceleration of the receiving drum 22 is that all flutes 29 on the conveying drum 23 are filled, i.e. the "unfilling" of flute 28' is not transferred to the conveying drum 23.

[0026] Fig. 4 shows the successive phases of movement of the receiving drum 22 to be carried out in order to eliminate the "unfilling", the shown phases of movement include the acceleration of the receiving drum 22, the figure also shows the phases of movement of the conveying drum 23 related to the movement of the receiving drum 22. In the phase a, the rod MA is transferred to the flute 29 and the receiving drum 22 moves at the nominal rotational speed w1 adjusted to the rotational speed w2 of the conveying drum 23. On the conveying drum, the next flute to be filled is designated 29', the flute 28' which approaches the point of transfer X being unfilled. Just after transferring the rod MA to the flute 29 of the conveying drum 23, the receiving drum 22 starts to move at the increased speed ω1', as shown in the phase b, where the flute 28' moves faster than the flute 29' to be filled with the next rod MA. In the phase c, the receiving drum 22 continues to rotate at the increased speed w1' and the conveying drum 23 rotates at the nominal speed w2. In the phase d, the filled flute 28" of the receiving drum 22 and the empty flute 29' of the conveying drum 23 are positioned opposite each other, i.e. their movements are synchronised so that the rod MA can be transferred between the flutes, whereas the receiving drum 22 reduces its speed to the nominal rotational speed w1 and the conveying drum 23 rotates at the nominal rotational speed w2. The receiving drum 22 and the conveying drum 23 continue to rotate synchronously with the speeds w1 and w2, respectively, enabling the transfer of the successive rods MA.

[0027] Fig. 5 shows a feeding apparatus 40 in the second embodiment. The feeding apparatus 40 comprises a hopper 41, the receiving drum 22, the conveying drum 23 and the cutting head 24. The feeding apparatus 40 is further provided with a feed channel 42 for feeding the rods MA, the feeding of the rods MA to the hopper 41 being assisted by two conveyors 43 and 44. The feeding apparatus 40 is used to cut the rods MA and to feed the groups G of segments A. The receiving drum 22 is provided with circumferentially arranged flutes 28 into which the rods MA are received from the hopper 41. The receiving drum 22 transfers the rods MA to the conveying drum 23, whereas at the conveying drum 23 there is arranged the cutting head 24 which is provided with one or several circular knives 24A for cutting the rods MA. The conveying drum 23 conveys the rods MA while cutting the rods MA into individual segments A (Fig. 2).

[0028] The rods MA stored in the hopper 41 fill the flutes 28 arranged circumferentially on the receiving drum 22 as this drum is rotated. The MA rod is held in the flute 28 by a vacuum supplied through holes in the bottom of the flute 28. The receiving drum 22 transfers the rods MA at the point of transfer X to the flutes 29 of the conveying drum 23 where the rods MA are also held by the vacuum. The rod MA is cut into individual segments A, whereas the segments A produced from one rod MA form a group G. The successively fed groups G of segments A can be received and shifted during the movement to form a stream of individual segments A. In this embodiment, the groups G can be pulled out in a direction substantially parallel to the axis of rotation k of the conveying drum 23, i.e. in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing. A pulling out unit for pulling out the group G is described hereinafter.

[0029] As shown in Fig. 5, the feeding apparatus 40 comprises the filling sensor 31 for checking the presence of the rod MA in the flute 28 of the receiving drum 22. Furthermore, the feeding apparatus 40 comprises the quality control sensor 32 for checking the quality of the conveyed rod MA.

[0030] As in the first embodiment, the feeding apparatus 40 comprises the rod rejector 33 for rejecting defective MA rods. The rejector 33 comprises the pressure vessel 34 and the valve 35 on the feed channel 36 through which compressed air is supplied. The rejection of the rod MA is achieved by momentarily supplying compressed air to the rejection channel 37. The force acting on the rod MA is greater than the force holding the rod MA in the flute 28. In Fig. 5, the rejected defective rod is designated MA'.

[0031] During the operation of the feeding apparatus 40, the individual flutes 28 may be unfilled. As in the first embodiment, when an unfilled flute 28' appears, the receiving drum 22 is accelerated as described for the first embodiment.

[0032] Fig. 6 shows a pulling out unit 50 for pulling out the group G of segments A from the flute 29 of the conveying drum 23 in a direction substantially corresponding to the axis of rotation k of the conveying drum 23. The pulling out unit is situated under the conveying drum 23. The pulling out unit 50 is provided with lugs 51 arranged at equal intervals along a chain 52. The path of movement of the chain 52 is such as to allow the lug 51 to pass through the flute 29" when it is in its lowest position as indicated in Fig. 5, the movement of the chain 52 and the conveying drum 23 being synchronised with each other, normally the path of movement of the lug 51 is deviated by a small angle from the axis k in a top view, i.e. as shown in Fig. 6.

[0033] In the embodiments presented above, special cases of carrying out the general method of feeding the rod-like articles, in particular the rods MA, between the drums in the apparatuses according to the invention are shown.

[0034] A method of feeding tobacco industry rod-like articles in the form of rods MA between the receiving drum 22 and the conveying drum 23 comprises the step of identifying the empty flute 28' on the receiving drum 22. Identifying the empty flute 28' may include observing the flutes on the receiving drum 22 and noticing the empty flute 28' by means of the filling sensor 31 for checking the presence of the rod MA in the flute 28. Such sensors are known in the state of the art and include optical sensors operating in different ranges of visible light, in different axes, vision sensors using computer image analysis.

[0035] The identification of the empty flute can alternatively or complementarily take place by means of a defective rod MA rejection signal coming from the rod MA quality control sensor 32. The rejection signal is assigned to a specific MA rod and thus to a specific flute 28 which, after rejection, will become an empty flute 28'.

[0036] The essence of the method according to the invention is that, after identifying the empty flute 28' on the receiving drum 22, the speed w1 of the receiving drum 22 is increased so that, at the point of transfer X of the rod MA to the flute 29 of the conveying drum 23, there is another filled flute 28' of the receiving drum 22 and another empty flute 29' of the conveying drum 23. An increase in the speed w1 of the receiving drum 22 causes the receiving drum 22 to accelerate sufficiently so that, at the point of transfer X, the empty flute 29' of the conveying drum 23 meets another filled flute 28" of the receiving drum 22.

[0037] Since the essence of the solution is to vary the relative rotational speed between the receiving drum 22 and the conveying drum 23, the same effect can be obtained by reducing the rotational speed w2 of conveying drum 23.

Claims

1. A feeding apparatus (30, 40) for feeding segments (A) of tobacco industry material, comprising

a hopper (21, 41) for storing rods (MA) of tobacco industry material,

a receiving drum (22) adapted to receive the rods (MA) from the hopper (21, 41),

a conveying drum (23) for conveying the rods (MA) while cutting the rods (MA) into segments (A), the rotational movement of the conveying drum (23) being synchronised with the movement of the receiving drum (22) so that the rod (MA) is transferred from a flute (28) of the receiving drum (22) to a flute (29) of the conveying drum (23),

a cutting head (24) for cutting the rods (MA) conveyed on the conveying drum (23),

characterised in that
the feeding apparatus (30, 40) comprises a filling sensor (31) for checking the presence of the rod (MA) in the flute (28) of the receiving drum (22), the receiving drum (22) being adapted to make a rotational movement at an increased speed (ω1') so that when an unfilled flute (28') is detected on the receiving drum (22), the receiving drum (22) moves at the increased speed (ω1') so that at the point of transfer (X) of the rod (MA) into the flute (29) of the conveying drum (23) there is another filled flute (28") of the receiving drum (22) and another empty flute (29") of the conveying drum (23).

2. The apparatus as in claim 1, characterised in that a synchronisation takes place at the point of transfer (X) of the rod (MA) into a flute (29) of the conveying drum (23) or when approaching this point.

3. The apparatus as in claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the feeding apparatus (30, 40) is provided with a quality control sensor (32) for the rod (MA).

4. The apparatus as in claim 3, characterised in that the feeding apparatus (30, 40) is provided with a rod (MA) rejector (33) adapted to reject the rods (MA).

5. The apparatus as in any of the claims 1 to 4, characterised by comprising a pulling out unit (50) for pulling out the rods (MA) from the flute (29) of the conveying drum (23).

6. A feeding module (20) for feeding the segments (A) made of tobacco industry material, comprising

a hopper (21) for storing the rods (MA) of tobacco industry material,

a receiving drum (22) adapted to receive the rods (MA) from the hopper (21),

a conveying drum (23) for conveying the rods (MA) while cutting the rods (MA) into individual segments (A), the rotational movement of the conveying drum (23) being synchronised with the movement of the receiving drum (22) so that the rod (MA) is transferred from the flute (28) of the receiving drum (22) to the flute (29) of the conveying drum (23),

a cutting head (24) for cutting the rods (MA) conveyed on the conveying drum (23),

a shifting drum (25) for varying mutual position of the segments (A),

an aligning drum (26) for forming at least one stream of the segments (A),

characterised in that
the feeding module (20) comprises a filling sensor (31) for checking the presence of the rod (MA) in a flute (28) of the receiving drum (22), the receiving drum (22) being adapted to make a rotational movement at the increased speed (ω1') so that when an unfilled flute (28') is detected on the receiving drum (22), the receiving drum (22) moves at the increased speed (w1') so that at the point of transfer (X) of the rod (MA) into the flute (29) of the conveying drum (23) there is another filled flute (28") of the receiving drum (22) and another empty flute (29") of the conveying drum (23).

7. The feeding module as in claim 6, characterised in that a synchronisation takes place at the point of transfer (X) of the rod (MA) into the flute (29) of the conveying drum (23) or when approaching this point.

8. The feeding module as in claim 6 or 7, characterised in that the feeding module (20) is provided with a quality control sensor (32) for the rod (MA).

9. The feeding module as in claim 8, characterised in that the feeding module (20) is provided with the rod (MA) rejector (33) adapted to reject the rods (MA).

10. The feeding module as in any of the claims 6 to 9, characterised by comprising the pulling out unit (50) for pulling out the rod (MA) from the flute (29) of the conveying drum (23).

11. A method of feeding tobacco industry rod-like articles in the form of rods (MA) between the drum (22) and another drum (23) comprising the step of identifying an empty flute (28) on the receiving drum (22), characterised in that, after identifying an empty flute (28) on the receiving drum (22), the speed (w1) of the receiving drum (22) is increased relative to the speed (w2) of the conveying drum (23) so that at the point of transfer (X) of the rods (MA) into the flute (29) of the conveying drum (23) there is another filled flute (28) of the receiving drum (22) and another empty flute (29) of the conveying drum (23).

12. The method as in claim 11, characterised in that the step of identifying the empty flute (28) is carried out by means of the filling sensor (31) for checking the presence of the rod (MA) in the flute (28).

13. The method as in claim 11 or 12, characterised in that the step of identifying the empty flute (28) is carried out on the basis of a defective rod (MA) rejection signal from the quality control sensor (32) for the rod (MA).

Drawing